Personal Guard 2009 is classified as a rogue anti-spyware
program because it utilizes false positives and is advertised through deceptive
web sites that pretend to be online anti-malware scanners. When installed, Personal
Guard 2009 will be configured to start automatically when your computer boots
up. Once running, it will scan your computer and list a variety of infections
that are either grossly exaggerated or do not even exist on your computer. It
will not remove these so-called infections, though, until you purchase the program.
It does this to trick you into thinking you are infected in the hopes that you
will then purchase it. It goes without saying that you should definitely not
purchase Personal Guard 2009.
Personal Guard 2009 screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 2 images you can view.
While the program is running you will also see fake security alerts appear
from your Windows taskbar. These alerts contain ambiguous statements about the
security of your computer and then suggest that you purchase Personal Guard
2009 to protect yourself. An example of one of the alerts you would see is:
All protection modules are turned off. Your PC is currently
exposed to viruses, adware and spyware. Turn all modules on to achieve best
protection and safety.
Of course, the only way to turn all modules on is to purchase the program.
As you can see Personal Guard 2009 was created for one purpose; to scam you
out of your money by making you think your computer has a security problem.
The reality is that Personal Guard 2009 is the actual infection on your computer
and everything else it shows is just an act. To remove this program and any
related malware, please use the removal guide below.
Threat Classification:
Advanced information:
View Personal Guard 2009 files.
View Personal Guard 2009 Registry Information.
Entries for this program found in the Uninstall Programs control panel:
Personal Guard 2009
Tools Needed for this fix:
Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [personalguard] C:\Program Files\Personal Guard 2009\personalguard.exe
Guide Updates:
09/08/09 - Initial guide creation.
11/26/09 - Updated for new removal procedure.
Automated Removal Instructions for Personal Guard 2009 using Malwarebytes Anti-Malware:
- Print out these instructions as we may need to close every window that is
open later in the fix.
- Before we can do anything we must first end the processes that belong to
Personal Guard 2009
so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, please
download RKill to your desktop from the following link.
RKill
Download Link - (Download page will open in a new tab or browser window.)
When at the download page, click on the Download Now button
labeled iExplore.exe download link. When you are prompted
where to save it, please save it on your desktop.
- Once it is downloaded, double-click on the iExplore.exe
icon in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with
Personal Guard 2009
and other Rogue programs. Please be patient while the program looks for various
malware programs and ends them. When it has finished, the black window will
automatically close and you can continue with the next step. If you get a
message that RKill is an infection, do not be concerned. This message is just
a fake warning given by
Personal Guard 2009
when it terminates programs that may potentially remove it. If you run into
these infections warnings that close RKill, a trick is to leave the warning
on the screen and then run RKill again. By not closing the warning, this typically
will allow you to bypass the malware trying to protect itself so that RKill
can terminate
Personal Guard 2009
. So, please try running RKill until the malware is no longer running. You
will then be able to proceed with the rest of the guide. Do not reboot
your computer after running RKill as the malware programs will start again.
If you continue having problems running RKill, you can download the
other renamed versions of RKill from the RKill
download page. Both of these files are renamed copies
of RKill, which you can try instead. Please note that the download page will
open in a new browser window or tab.
- Now you should download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following
location and save it to your desktop:
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Download Link
(Download page will open in a new window)
- Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including
this one.
- Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe.
This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
- When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue
with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings
and when the program has finished installing and is at the last screen, make
sure you uncheck both of the Update Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
and Launch Malwarebytes Anti-Malware check
boxes. Then click on the Finish button. If Malwarebytes'
prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.
If you receive a code 2 error while installing Malwarebytes's, please press
the OK button to close these errors as we will resolve them
in future steps. The code 2 error will look similar to the image below.
- As this infection deletes a core executable of Malwarebytes' we will need
to download a new copy of it and put it in the C:\program files\Malwarebytes'
Anti-Malware\ folder. To download the file please click on the following
link:
Malwarebytes'
EXE Download
When your browser prompts you where to save it to, please save it to the C:\program
files\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\ folder. When downloading the file,
it will have a random filename. Please leave the filename the way it is as
it is important that it is not changed. You may want to write down the name
of the file as you will need to know the name in the next step.
- Once the file has been downloaded, open the C:\program files\Malwarebytes'
Anti-Malware\ folder and double-click on the file you downloaded
in step 8. MBAM will now start and you will be at the main program screen
as shown below.
- Before you can perform a scan, you must first update the program. To do
this click on the Update tab, and that at the new screen
click on the Check for Updates button. Malwarebytes' will
now check for new updates and download and install them as necessary. When
the update is completed, you will be prompted with a message stating either
that you already have the latest updates or that they have been updated. Either
way, you should now click on the OK button to continue.
- Now click on the Scanner tab and make sure the the Perform
full scan option is selected. Then click on the Scan
button to start scanning your computer for
Personal Guard 2009
related files.
- MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can
take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically
check on the status of the scan. When MBAM is scanning it will look like the
image below.
- When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image
below.
You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with
the
Personal Guard 2009
removal process.
- You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should
click on the Show Results button.
- A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown
as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different
than what is shown in the image.
You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove
all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry
keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM
may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message
stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer
has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the
steps.
- When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and
display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad
window.
- You can now exit the MBAM program.
- Due to the fact that this infection deletes certain MalwareBytes' files,
and we had to work around this, if you wish to continue using MalwareBytes'
Anti-Malware, which we suggest you do, then you should uninstall and then
install it again so that the files are created properly.
- As many rogues and other malware are installed through vulnerabilities found
in out-dated and insecure programs, it is strongly suggested that you use
Secunia PSI to scan for vulnerable programs on your computer. A tutorial on
how to use Secunia PSI to scan for vulnerable programs can be found here:
How to
detect vulnerable and out-dated programs using Secunia Personal Software Inspector
Your computer should now be free of the
Personal Guard 2009
program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through,
you may want to consider purchasing the
PRO version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to protect against these types
of threats in the future.
If you are still having problems with your computer after completing these instructions, then please follow the steps outlined in the topic linked below:
Preparation Guide For Use Before Using Malware Removal Tools and Requesting Help
Associated Personal Guard 2009 Files:
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Personal Guard 2009.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Personal Guard 2009
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Personal Guard 2009\Personal Guard 2009.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Personal Guard 2009\Uninstall.lnk
c:\Program Files\Personal Guard 2009
c:\Program Files\Personal Guard 2009\config.cnf
c:\Program Files\Personal Guard 2009\mainbase.adb
c:\Program Files\Personal Guard 2009\personalguard.exe
c:\Program Files\Personal Guard 2009\q.adb
c:\Program Files\Personal Guard 2009\queue.vdb
c:\Program Files\Personal Guard 2009\uninstall.exe
c:\Program Files\Personal Guard 2009\virusbase.adb
c:\Program Files\Personal Guard 2009\quarantine
File Location Notes:
%UserProfile% refers to the current user's profile folder. By default, this is C:\Documents and Settings\<Current User> for Windows 2000/XP, C:\Users\<Current User> for Windows Vista/7/8, and c:\winnt\profiles\<Current User> for Windows NT.
Associated Personal Guard 2009 Windows Registry Information:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Personal Guard 2009
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Personal Guard 2009
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "personalguard"
This is a self-help guide. Use at your own risk.
BleepingComputer.com can not be held responsible for problems that may occur by using this information. If you would like help with any of these fixes, you can ask for malware removal assistance in our Virus, Trojan, Spyware, and Malware Removal Logs forum.
If you have any questions about this self-help guide then please post those questions in our Am I infected? What do I do? and someone will help you.
